The first thing that strikes you about Chiwetel Ejiofor is his eyes. They’re so expressive, almost hypnotic. So well do they telegraph intelligence and empathy that they do more than linger. They burn. Their intensity clicks faster than pronouncing his…
Penny Dreadful: Horror with a Literary Past
Black- and blue-tinged images unfurl to the low bass of a violin. A rosary. Drops of blood. Tarot cards. A scorpion curling its tail. A scalpel slicing into a cadaver. An insect flailing against a spider’s web. Showtime’s new series…
Andy Serkis: The Man in the Digital Mask
Actors love to disappear into roles, but few have done this as thoroughly as Andy Serkis. His voice, facial expressions, and body language give nuance and life to complex computer-animated characters, bringing him fame and accolades for his work while…
Films That Spun a Web of Romance
“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” swings into theaters on Friday, re-teaming Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone as the web-slinging superhero and his girlfriend Gwen Stacy. The two lead actors fell in love with a thwip! on the set of its 2012…
Tom Hardy: More Behind the Muscle
Tom Hardy has the muscular build and raspy voice of a bruiser, so it’s no wonder he’s often cast as a man comfortable with violence. Since his feature-film debut as an Army Ranger under siege in 2001’s “Black Hawk Down,”…
Ambition, anxiety and sci-fi disasters
Science, literature, and film give life to our dreams but never without consequence, it seems. Every invention, formula, or vision — even with benevolent intentions — has a countertale of tragedy from a lack of forethought or an unchecked ego.…
Film’s Visions of the Great Beyond
The film “Heaven Is for Real” opens in theaters in time for Easter Sunday, giving us another interpretation of what might occur in the afterlife. Based on the best-selling book of the same name, “Heaven Is for Real” shows what…
Alfonso Cuaron’s Skyward Spiral
Alfonso Cuarón is a “movie visionary of the highest order,” critics say – and we need no more proof of his focus and endurance than the path he took to launch “Gravity.” Still in theaters, “Gravity” stars Sandra Bullock and…
Fun facts about the enchanting Amy Adams
With her effervescent personality and “beautiful face of light,” Amy Adams plays a believable ingenue. Yet the thirty-nine-year-old relishes revealing new depths. As a seductive 1970s scam artist in “American Hustle,” for instance, audiences and critics alike delight in her character’s…